I recently ran across an article on Business Insider describing this strange hum that's being reported in areas ranging from the American Desert to the UK. I checked the video out and--holy crap, I've heard it before! There's no other sound to compare it to other than an out of control subwoofer, except the noise (to me) sounds like it's coming from the sky. It gets to a point where the front windows of my house seem as if they're going to shatter. And then it suddenly stops. The few times it's happened, it never lasted for more than a minute. Also, now that I think about it, I usually hear it in the winter, or at least when it's cool outside.

I assumed it wasn't a problem as I sometimes get passenger jets flying overhead and assumed it was some sort of reverberation. Except I know what a passenger jet sounds like and it was no jet. Here's some background info on me: I am not a conspiracy theorist. But this sound, this vibration, it's been heard around the world. And nobody knows what the fuck it is. Damn, I do love a mystery though.

So tell me, have you heard this noise? This was recorded in New Mexico. Cool, right? Here's the thing: I live in Miami, Florida, and I've heard that exact same sound.

I know there's people on here from around the world. Have you ever heard anything like this?

Update: So I found a site courtesy of the Christian Science Monitor.[1] It's called TheHum.Info. Thankfully, it's a very straightforward site that makes no mention of aliens, angels, bigfoot, or Chthulu. It's just a site that's trying to record information about the hum from people around the world.

[1] For those unfamiliar, rest assured that CSM is not a religious-themed organization.

It's not a hearing thing I don't think. I really thought the front windows to my house were going to shatter. That's what they sounded like anyway.

Unfortunately, I think there are some fake stories on YouTube, like in this video for example. I will say however, that there's a segment at minute 8 in this video which caught a sound during a live broadcast of a baseball game:

The thing I've heard that most resembles that is a distant freight train. My grandmother has a farm in the desert of Central Oregon, and a railroad runs right by there. You can hear/feel the hum of the train's engine from a couple of miles away on some days, and it's very similar to that.

How many of those places have trains running by them? Or is there anything else around them that would have some powerful engine running for several minutes at certain times of day?

A quick GE search shows an airfield not far from Taos. I can imagine that hum coming from propeller-driven aircraft taxiing on the airstrip. Maybe with the right acoustics and temperature/humidity, the bass sound from the craft can carry for quite a ways. I think it might be possible to set up temperature contrasts that cause sound to bounce or refract off layers of air, like a sonic mirage.

I can't say I've heard it myself, mind you having said that I have wreaked my hearing through loud music throughout the years. Plus now I live in a town, its constantly noisy so I never hear anything over traffic noise.

FizzyIzze:I recently ran across an article on Business Insider describing this strange hum that's being reported in areas ranging from the American Desert to the UK. I checked the video out and--holy crap, I've heard it before! There's no other sound to compare it to other than an out of control subwoofer, except the noise (to me) sounds like it's coming from the sky. It gets to a point where the front windows of my house seem as if they're going to shatter. And then it suddenly stops. The few times it's happened, it never lasted for more than a minute. Also, now that I think about it, I usually hear it in the winter, or at least when it's cool outside.

I assumed it wasn't a problem as I sometimes get passenger jets flying overhead and assumed it was some sort of reverberation. Except I know what a passenger jet sounds like and it was no jet. Here's some background info on me: I am not a conspiracy theorist. But this sound, this vibration, it's been heard around the world. And nobody knows what the fuck it is. Damn, I do love a mystery though.

So tell me, have you heard this noise? This was recorded in New Mexico. Cool, right? Here's the thing: I live in Miami, Florida, and I've heard that exact same sound.

I know there's people on here from around the world. Have you ever heard anything like this?

Sounds like infrasound, which is sometimes heard as a hum (but often not at all). There are quite a few natural sources of infrasound, like Volcanoes, Lightning, Upper Atmosphere lightning, Aurora and Lee waves. Generally the sound is inaudible, but sufficient acoustic pressure can make it audible or have a physical affect on persons present.

Unfortunately, this isn't interesting enough for some, so there are a plethora of conspiracy theories and supernatural criers that pull in this phenomena as "evidence" to their crazy/paranoid ramblings.

I guarantee the natural effect is far more fascinating then any fictional twist people can possibly dream up for it.

I've heard a sound like a distant engine ever since I was a child where I live. Parents said it was probably just the tracks that were over 5kms from our house. Cept its even further then that in reality. Could this be what I've been hearing for 18 years?

Only randomly, normally at night when its quite, sometimes I think my windows are shaking, low hum (the video sounded more like a high frequency then a low hum but audio is difficult to get across), sounds like a distant train with a "rumble" more then anything else, very solid and constant for a variable length of time, never overly long though.

It's just whales. Whales on weather balloons. Now please disperse and go about your business, don't mind the unmarked vans over there with the blacked out windows they are just delivering goods to local businesses.

I seem to remember a bit on QI where they played a similar hum that was actually made by sand dunes.

So tell me, have you heard this noise? This was recorded in New Mexico. Cool, right? Here's the thing: I live in Miami, Florida, and I've heard that exact same sound.

Of course, that sound doesn't sound the same in all examples or in all locations, so hearing the same sound somewhere else doesn't mean much. In fact, it's up for debate as to whether or not "the hum" can be captured on recording equipment.

I guarantee the natural effect is far more fascinating then any fictional twist people can possibly dream up for it.

Depends on what you find interesting and whether or not you're a layperson. If Joe Sixpack found the prospect of scientific phenomena half as interesting as the supernatural or what have you, there would be virtually no belief in ghosts/conspiracies/aliens/whatever.

I hear it occasionally, mainly when there's major weather changes such as a thunderstorm coming in. I always assumed it had something to do with atmospheric pressure, but clearly it was the work of ancient aliens trying to burrow into my brain and learn the secrets of a perfectly prepared twinkie hot dog.

Galen Marek:I've heard a sound like a distant engine ever since I was a child where I live. Parents said it was probably just the tracks that were over 5kms from our house. Cept its even further then that in reality. Could this be what I've been hearing for 18 years?

Only randomly, normally at night when its quite, sometimes I think my windows are shaking, low hum (the video sounded more like a high frequency then a low hum but audio is difficult to get across), sounds like a distant train with a "rumble" more then anything else, very solid and constant for a variable length of time, never overly long though.

This is, interesting.

Yes, that is exactly what it sounds like for me. The windows in the front of my house, the largest ones, aren't 100% secured. there's a tiny gap between the frame of one window and the wall. Those windows sound as if they're going to shatter whenever I hear the--I guess 'hum' isn't the proper word. It's a rumble. A very low bass rumble.

Sounds like infrasound, which is sometimes heard as a hum (but often not at all). There are quite a few natural sources of infrasound, like Volcanoes, Lightning, Upper Atmosphere lightning, Aurora and Lee waves. Generally the sound is inaudible, but sufficient acoustic pressure can make it audible or have a physical affect on persons present.

Unfortunately, this isn't interesting enough for some, so there are a plethora of conspiracy theories and supernatural criers that pull in this phenomena as "evidence" to their crazy/paranoid ramblings.

I guarantee the natural effect is far more fascinating then any fictional twist people can possibly dream up for it.

Infrasound seems to be the most likely cause as the nature of low, deep bass is that it's supposedly omnidirectional. In the few legitimate-looking videos I've seen, people are claiming that it's a noise emanating from the sky. Could be lightning in the upper atmosphere or something.

The coolest thing to me is that nobody that's responded on this thread has so far said that it's a different noise; the low bass rumble seems to be the only common factor here.

*EDIT* I forgot to post this cool thing about elephants and their infrasound communication. There's a signal generator on this page and it's hard for me to say which frequency the hum matches. It's not the same when it's all clean.

I know there's people on here from around the world. Have you ever heard anything like this?

Nope. Could it be an ELF transmitter? I hear they are huge underground antennae that broadcast pulses at Extremely Low Frequencies that can penetrate ocean depths and thus issue orders to lurking subs?

I remember my Government teacher doing a small segment about the Taos hum towards the end of my last year. I thought it was just isolated to the area around the cave in New Mexico where it originated, but I guess it really gets around these days.

Isn't that the same hum that supposedly drives the people who hear it to madness?

Unless we get some scientific measurements of it, I'm gonna rule it down to it being a mix of natural noises from the environment combined with people who are too quick to jump to fantastical conclusions. Especially the fact that only 2 percent seems to be able to hear the noise makes me fairly certain this is nothing of importance. I'm sure more than two percent of people claim to have seen or "experienced" ghosts but that makes them no more real.

i've heard a lot of strange things. Walking across a bridge in California at 2am I heard some weird grinding noise that seemed to come from every direction. No cars on the highway, nothing in sight except foothills and the moon. About 2 hours later, still walking I experienced my first Earthquake. Minor, but unsettling. I was glad as hell to be off that bridge.Years later at home in FL I heard a similar noise followed by a sonic boomlike noise. It was coincidentally the day one of the Space Shuttles were landing, and I thought that was what shook the house. Turns out we had a Gulf of Mexico earthquake.I am pretty sure I've heard this noise as well... what it signifies I'm absolutely clueless.

I know there's people on here from around the world. Have you ever heard anything like this?

Nope. Could it be an ELF transmitter? I hear they are huge underground antennae that broadcast pulses at Extremely Low Frequencies that can penetrate ocean depths and thus issue orders to lurking subs?

McMullen:The thing I've heard that most resembles that is a distant freight train. My grandmother has a farm in the desert of Central Oregon, and a railroad runs right by there. You can hear/feel the hum of the train's engine from a couple of miles away on some days, and it's very similar to that.

This is exactly what I was thinking. I've lived near both train tracks and an airport growing up and this is what the trains sound like from indoors when everything is closed up. Kind of freaky when the trains go by late at night but you quickly learn what it is. Also, the track was down in a hill and we lived on the top of it, with another hill on the other side so it'd make the sound bounce around and leave mostly the ambient and low sounds while stifling the other noises, making it more eerie.